338 PALEONTOLOGY. 



of this group. (Pig. 248.) Among the Plantigrade tribe which 

 walk upon the soles of their feet, we recognise in a fossil state 

 several extinct species of Ursus (bears). The remains of 

 V. cultridens have been found in the falunian stage of 

 Sansan, in Bavaria, and in the sub-apennine stage of the Yal 

 d'Arno, Montpellier, and Puy-de-Dome. The ossiferous 

 caverns of England, France, and Germany, contain immense 

 numbers of II. spelaus, and six other distinct species. 



"We know likewise several extinct genera, as Agnotherium, 

 from the cavern at Eppelsheim ; Amphicyon, from the falunian 

 stage at Sansan ; Tcenoiherium^ from the eocene of Mont- 

 martre ; whilst in the caverns of France, England, Belgium, 

 and Germany, is found an extinct species of badger (Meles 

 antediluvianus.) . 



Belonging to the tribe of Digitigrade carnivora, or those 

 which walk on their toes as the dog, many extinct species 

 of existing genera are known. The most remarkable of 

 these are the fossil hyaenas, found in the bone caverns of 



Europe, and especially of 

 those at Kirkdale, and of 

 one near Banwellin Somer- 

 setshire. The latter was 

 unquestionably a den in- 

 habited by these carni- 

 vora. We have before us 

 a lower-jaw, presented by 

 Fia.249.-SkuiiofaTi g er. Mr - Beard, which mea- 



sures from the carnassier 



molar to the median line, five inches and three quarters; 

 and transversely from molar to molar, four and a half inches. 

 The teeth are blunted, and the jaw is above one-third 

 larger than that of the largest living species. Along with 

 the hyaena's jaws, were the bones and skull of a young 

 rhinoceros, which bore the imprints of teeth-marks, the 

 body having been apparently dragged into this retreat. 



About twenty species belonging to the genus Canis have 

 been found in the eocene stage of Prance ; and more than 

 the same number of the genus Felis in the upper stages. 

 Of genera which are now extinct, may be cited MacTiairodus 

 and Amyxodon, from the middle tertiaries, and Hy&nodon, 

 from the eocene of the Isle of Weight and of Auvergne. 



